Money from guests for honeymoon

Hi

We are doing this too. We've lived together for 6 years so we really don't need any of the stuff you'd get from "traditional" style wedding lists. I still feel slightly awkward about asking people for money but i'm planning on making it very clear that we don't expect anything but that contributions towards the honeymoon would be very gratefully received for anyone who does want to give a gift. We will just be putting a nice verse in with our invitations. I believe its possible with some travel agents to set up a gift list so people can pay straight off your balance but i have heard some horror stories about doing it this way so i'm not bothering.

I'm not expecting enough to cover the full cost of the honeymoon - i fully expect that we will have to contribute a chunk too. I'm going to put it all on my credit card and then pay it off afterwards once i've banked whatever we receive.

L x

We can't afford a honeymoon so are not booking one. We're asking for contributions and will save these until we've built up enough before we book. You should only book if you've got enough money to afford one yourselves if you don't get anything. I have no idea how much people will give and some more traditional guests may ignore you ad buy a gift anyway.

We didnt ask for anything at all,and made no reference to money/gifts in our invitations.

However, we got about £1500 in cash and £500 in various vouchers, m&s etc. We had 140 day guests and another 40 evening guests most in couples.

We were lucky enough to be able to book a honeymoon before in the end, but our original plan was to take whatever money we got to the travel agent on the sunday and go somewhere literally last minute!

We did this for our wedding and we were amazed by the generosity!

People donated far more than we thought to our honeymoon and we were so pleasantly surprised.

We actually booked the honeymoon about six months before the wedding and we had the same dilemma, do we book an expensive one and then panic if we don't get enough donations or do we book a cheaper one and then kick ourselves if people are super-generous?

I suppose the only practical thing you can do is look at your own financial situation right now. Ask yourself questions like: 'If we only got half the value of our ideal honeymoon could we afford to pay the other half?' If the answer is yes then book it.

How many guests have you invited? More guest should mean more donations. Are your guests aware of your honeymoon destination? They may donate more if they find out you're off to the Maldives than if they think you're going to say, the South of France.

Hope that helps.

We are doing this however we are using a honeymoon gift list so on there we have little trips, fancy meals, accomodation upgrades, flight upgrades and a generic donation towards the cost of the honeymoon. For the upgrades we are doing several quantities of a low value therefore people can spend as little or as much as they like and they feel like they are actually buying something. We are paying for the honeymoon ourselves but using any money we get to do the extra things we want. I struggled with asking for money as part of the invite and found it easier and nicer putting a link to a site instead

I'm doing a Kuoni honeylist thing....You book it in advance and then any money that goes on it gets sent to you after (unless guests are super organised and pay it before it needs to be)

We chose to have a super nice one and don't expect the balance to be covered from guests - we're happy putting as much towards it as we need to :-)

Maybe book one that you can afford to and then use the additional money/honeyfunds to pay for upgrades/spending money/excursions

x

How did grandparents etc take asking for money???

I am trying to be tackful but loosing the will to live and may ask their opinion instead!!

We are thinking of setting up a guest list with a travel company so people can donate to our honeymoon. They can either contribute money or buy experiences (meals out out, excursions etc). I'm still waiting to hear back from the company for a couple of quotes before we decide whether to book or not.

I am also thinking of having a small traditional wedding list somewhere like John Lewis's, for any guests who would prefer to buy us an actual present.

Hi, I'm thinking of asking for money towards a honeymoon instead of a wedding gift but I'm not sure how to word it without it sounding... I don't know... Funny... Has anyone got any nice ideas of how to word the request?

Thanks

Hello,

We're thinking of doing the same - I looked online earlier & came across these that looked good.

"Because at first we lived in sin, we already have the kitchen bin, a gift from you would be swell, but we'd prefer a gift to our wishing well."

Or :

"As you all know we have lived together for many many years now and so have all the possessions (kitchenware, bedding etc) that we can make good use of. Therefore, we are not intending to produce a gift list.

The one thing which we are working to save towards is a memorable honeymoon, so if you did wish to make a small contribution to that fund then we would be very appreciative.

Ultimately, just attending our wedding is an expense for everyone who is travelling from far and wide and so we really do only wish for you to join with us and share our special day."

Hi all,

also debating this with the H2B. He thinks it is a bit cheeky, but would prefer it over a gift list, but i think if you word it right it should be okay. But definitely don't book something you won't be able to afford.

Also, could you possibly set up an additional (small) gift list, in case people don't like the idea of monetary gifts, and for grandparents etc. who may be more traditional? There was a site i saw that had a gift list as well as a list where you could pay for various activities and "sections" of your honeymoon.

Im thinking of doing this, but for spending money for the Honeymoon, we will have enough to do us saved, but any extra would allow us to do more. Thinking of a nice verse in the invite or my mum said she will tell everyone lol! Most people in my family, I know would prefer this, to save them worrying about what to buy, easier to stick money in a card, which my Brother in Law would be in charge of on the day (our venue has a locked room for gifts) Hopefully this works x

I also already live with my OH, and therefore we have all the things we would traditionally ask for from guests. I have also thought of doing this and will just put it kindly in the invitations that we would prefer money/donations for a honeymoon together if anyone wants to give gifts.

We aren't going to book anything until we know how much people are going to give, or aren't going to give as we can't afford the honeymoon ourselves (hence why we are asking...) so will probably wait until after the wedding.

I think you should ask for money towards a honeymoon but not specify the location or any specific activities. We used flyustothemoon.com and just asked for money - we said we were undecided on location. In the end we based on destination on how much we raised. Obviously this becomes difficult if you plan to go away straight away after the wedding.